tv CBS News America Decides Campaign 24 CBS October 1, 2024 5:00pm-6:00pm PDT
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♪ ♪ >> center stage for the meadow want to be second in command. >> the vice presidential debate happens right here on cbs. >> i am looking forward to the debate. i'm sure governor walz was looking forward to the debate. maybe not. >> we are going to have a little talk, he and i come on the same stage. >> the first formal debate ever held between vice presidential
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candidates. >> let me help you with a difference between iran and the embassy -- >> let me say that i most resent vice president bush coming or patronizing attitude. sick i have much experience in the congress as jack kennedy did when he sought the presidency. >> senator, i served with jack kennedy. i knew jack kennedy. jack kennedy was a friend of mine. senator, you're no jack kennedy. >> who am i? why am i here? >> i like to start by offering you a deal, jack. if you will use any football stories, i won't tell any of my warm and humorous stories about chlorofluorocarbon. >> it's the deal. >> one of the worst attendance records in the united states senate. the first time i ever met you is when he walked on the stage tonight. >> can i call you joe? >> it's a bunch of stuff. >> here's the deal. >> what does that mean, bunch of stuff? >> gentlemen, gentlemen, the people at home cannot understand
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either one of you when you speak over each other. >> if you don't mind letting me finish, we can have a conversation. >> some speculation that tonight's joint appearance of the vice president shall candidates may be livelier than the presidential meetings. we are about to find out. >> we are going to turn this whole country red with president donald j. trump's leadership. >> you know it's at the end of this little journey? kamala harris is the next president of the united states. >> announcer: this is a cbs news special "america decides: the vice presidential debate." >> good evening. i'm john dickerson at the cbs news election headquarters in times square. the first and only meeting between ohio senator j.d. vance and minnesota governor tim walz starts in one hour. >> i'm cecilia vega, election day is just 35 days away and this race continues to be a dead heat. voting is already underway in some states.
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the moderators, our own norah o'donnell and margaret brennan here in new york at the cbs news broadcast center. tonight is likely to be the last chance for each campaign to make their case on a debate stage great enthusiasm right now for the democrats seems to be on the democrats 'aside, cbs news poll finds democrats are more enthusiastic about having governor walz on the ticket than republicans are about senator vance. 65-49%. >> john: tonight's lineup testifies to the twist in this race. senator vance was chosen to run by a former president trump against a totally different democratic ticket and before july, governor walz expected he would be watching his new boss, kamala harris, behind the lectern where he now stands. norah and market up during for the debate but the rest of the gang is here. chief washington correspondent major garrett. chief white house correspondent nancy cordes, chief election campaign correspondent robert costa and cbs news contribute or add gordon. major, i want to start with you.
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vice presidential debates. the cliche's do no harm but how do you see this? >> good to see you john and cecelia. as we contemplate the future of the vice presidency, moments pause to say happy birthday to james earl carter jr., 39th president of the united states through 100 years old today the first american president took a president to achieve that century milestone. today's headlines of iran's talk on -- attack on israel, but carter presidency successfully and strenuously achieve some better of diplomatic breakthrough in the middle east.dle east. it's worth thinking about vice presidency and the presidency because every day you hold that office there will be a memo in your inbox about the middle east. now about tonight and the vice presidential debate, talking to both campaigns, trump and harris and democrats and republicans, they expected to be a clash between amplified and amiable. amplified is senator vance. hard-charging, needs to meet the standard president trump wants of an attack dog to be aggressive on inflation,
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immigration, quote, unquote, the world on fire. amiable, that's governor walz. use that which has already be been -- persuasive to democrats that he's friendly, approachable, and a formidable person to carry out policy and politics for the leader of the ticket, kamala harris. >> cecilia: i want to bring you in because you have covered the trump campaign for so long and i can't help think the history that hangs over this election and we have seen so many firsts in this race. starting with former vice president mike pence who refused to endorse his former boss, you know this, he also refused to assist in overturning the vote on january 6th. with that hanging overhead, how is this election of a vp pick this time around different for this campaign? speed 25 cecelia, history hovers over everything especially the vice presidency as it looms on the horizon for both of these mn stage, he could one day become a commander in chief of this
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country. some people who run for vice president, you never hear from them again. former vice president dan quayle. he advised then vice president mike pence in late 2020, early '21 to certify the election, to be part of that process. you look at history. 1963, lbj has to step in when kennedy was assassinated. august, 1974, gerald ford wasn't even on the ticket in 1972, has to become president of the united states after just a house member, then vice president. mike pence has to deal with the capitol attack and pressure from former president donald trump at that time so you never know it's on the horizon. politically, this is a big moment for j.d. vance. think about richard nixon and i can 52, gets on the ticket with eisenhower, had a rough ride with that, how to give the checkers speech, as we all know but he survived an had so many national tickets after that. if you are vance, you are saying based on my conversations with his advisors, there's a movement
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he could become the standard bearer down the line. trump is looking for somebody to take it over when ever former president trump leaves the stage. maybe it's the chance to solidify his standing in the republican party. nancy, be like me you say presidential debates or matter that much and then we had a presidential debate that mattered very much. how does it fit into the politics? >> got to change the conventional wisdom that vice presidential debates don't matter and that's because typically you've got three presidential debates that you can watch that voters at home can use to form an opinion. this time around, there's only one between harris and trump. it's possible there could be another one. doesn't sound like it right now. this debate takes on added importance. it's probably the last debate before voters go to the polls. some of them are already casting their ballots. so, what these candidates tonight say matters especially
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because these are two relative newcomers on the national scene. obviously folks in minnesota know governor walz very well. he is two-term governor. he was a six term member of congress. but voters nationwide have no idea that he was going to even be on the ticket. they thought it was going to be biden and harris until the summer. then you've got j.d. vance, yes, he wrote a best-selling book "hillbilly elegy was good but he only became a senator a couple of years ago. it is lot voters to want to learn about these two men at least according to our polling. >> john: it's a tricky thing to introduce yourself to an entire nation. >> in 90 minutes. >> john: with somebody yelling at you. ed, what has your reporting been telling you? >> ed: what we are going to see and i think nancy is right, everything is amplified. for democrats it isn't really about convincing. it's about energizing. they want to keep the momentum that they have seen from the beginning of harris coming in.
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she did it with the dnc, with the debate. they are looking for walz to do the same thing, keep the energy going. they realize their victory is dependent on voter turnout at the end of the day particularly in large urban areas. they are looking for that momentum to continue tonight. >> cecilia: we are going to check in with that momentum and check in with cbs news senior white house and political correspondent, ed o'keefe. he is in the room or journalists are gathered across the street from the debate studio. ed, you've been following this. the messaging from the harris cap has been that governor walz's nervous heading into tonight. is that true? is it the team downplaying expectations culture mark. >> ed: to some extent, downplaying expectations. good evening from the room just next door. the spin room here. the walz team tells us they have spent the last four or five days in michigan preparing and what they called camp north star. the nickname of his home state of minnesota but it's also a mind-set they want him to keep
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be himself. the folksy, plainspoken governor that has earned quick attention and over the last 56 days become the democratic running mate. the idea being that if he can talk about defending the harris agenda, talk about what he's done as governor, keep it nice. hopefully it works. notably he's been rehearsing for tonight's debate alongside the transportation secretary, pete buttigieg. a democrat known to the country over the last several years as someone who does a good job of speaking to republicans. the idea was to bring in someone who was able to talk to midwestern voters, moderate voters, republicans especially occasionally on fox news, and make sure tim walz is fine-tuning his message to that audience, hoping he can win skeptics in the midwest, may be in his home state of nebraska, to vote for harris in november. throughout the night, they will be closely watching to see how personal attentional j.d. vance gets. does he bring up the attacks on walz's military record? there was scrutiny of that at the beginning of his candidacy.
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note that 86% of voters in our polling say they want to hear this to be a debate about issues, not about the personal. if it goes into his military record, democrats are going to pounce on vance for going low prey to cilia. >> cecilia: will be checking in with you throughout the evening. >> john: i want to bring in cbs news nautical correspondent caitlin huey-burns. former president trump said he didn't do any formal practice before his debate. what was j.d. vance's approach? >> it's been very different than what donald trump's debate has been. j.d. vance has been very much pairing for tonight in a variety of different ways. i'm told they been doing what they are calling murder word sessions, zoom call sessions with top advisors and including his wife, usha vance. he has done a mock debate with congressman tom emmer, who was from minnesota, standing in in the role of governor tim walz. i'm told he got into character,
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he had started all of the opposition research against not only vance but also against w walz. i'm told j.d. vance himself spent a lot of time watching debate footage of governor walz. the vance team is trying to set expectations high for their opponent, saying that he's a practice debater. at the same time, they've also played up the way in which vance has been conditioning himself in preparation for tonight, holding press conferences regularly on the campaign trail. going on national television interviews, including on the sunday shows. they believe that he is well-positioned because he has used -- is used to taking incoming fire and that could help him for tonight. what i'm watching for in terms of this are a couple of points for vance. he is underwater in terms of likability in our polling. can he make that up tonight?
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he is also facing, as donald trump is, significant gender gap with women overwhelmingly supporting kamala harris and that ticket. we will see whether he sees tonight as an opportunity to try to change any of that or if the focus is on trying to take down walz and by extension, kamala harris as well. john. >> cecilia: as we come on the air, there continues to be breaking news out of the middle east in the wake of iran's missile attack on israel. the escalating conflict are to be a topic tonight. cbs news foreign correspondent chris livesay joins us from tel aviv. israel is promising retaliation. what's the latest on the ground where you are tonight? >> reporter: good evening, cecelia. israelis have been bracing for major retaliation after the recent assassinations of hamas and hezbollah leaders. tonight that retaliation finally came some 180 missiles lit up the night sky as israel
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intercepted most of them, sending red-hot shrapnel floating like embers from the western wall in jerusalem today here in tel aviv. there was one reported death in the occupied west bank and some minorinjuries due to falling debris. we are also reporting -- the conspicuous turn just moments before the missile barrage, there was an apparent terrorist attack here at a tel aviv train station where two men opened fire with assault rifles, killing at least seven and wounding eight, police say. this violence is set against the backdrop of a widening war. the past 24 hours, israel launchedwhat he calls a limited ground offensive into southern lebanon, targeting hezbollah rocket positions that every tag across israel's north for nearly a year. this is iran's second direct attack on israel this year. how israel responds to this latest barrage could determine the direction of the widening war and whether the u.s. gets dragged into it.
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john. >> john: chris, you know, nancy, this has taken us to the center of the presidency and of course the vice presidency is the understudy for the presidency. you cover the white house. these are the kinds of issues that as major said are in the inbox every day. not only an issue, harris and joe biden have to handle, it's the one the next president is going to handle. >> nancy: gets to foreign policy, temperament, relationships. all of those things are important when you're talking about global hot spots and the issues that either candidate is going to have to face if they are in the oval office. when it comes to j.d. vance and tim walz, neither of them has what you would consider classic foreign policy experience. tim walz, he sat on the veterans affairs committee when he was in congress. he was pretty high-ranking. he served in the military for 24 years. we have been discussing it. nothing beyond that you would say okay, he is really practice on the world stage and the same thing goes for j.d. vance. he served in the marines for
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four years. that's about it. these candidates will have to show tonight that they understand the world, that they would be inheriting as vice president. and that they are prepared to meet the moment. i think what i've been told at least by the harris balls campaign and i think is probably the same for vincennes trump. you would know better. they really believe that voters at the end of the day are by and large going to make decisions based on domestic issues, based on the economy, integ immigrati, abortion. those are the types of issues they plan to focus most heavily on tonight. >> cecilia: where less than 45 e into the rules agreed to by both vice presidential candidates. the debate runs 90 minutes with two breaks. there will be no opening statements. closing statements for 2 minutes each. just like last months to debate between vice president harris and former president trump,
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there will be no audience. this time mics will not be muted but cbs may turn off the mics if they talk over each other. j.d. vance chose to have the closing statement. governor walz chose to stand at the right lectern. >> john: we will head to western pennsylvania to check in on tightening presidential race and look at both candidates have just to victory.
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♪ ♪ >> cecilia: welcome back. when a race is this tight, we turn to the elections and surveys executive director to help us make sense of this. the polling is not move much in recent weeks especially in the coveted battleground states. what shall we be watching for questioning. >> no, it has not appeared cecelia, good to talk to you. here's what i mean when i say the race is tight. the presidency is decided state-by-state in the electoral college and here at cbs news we think it will come down to just seven states, the closest ones we call them the battlegrounds and they go across
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the sun belt. you've got nevada and arizona and then heading east you've got georgia, north carolina and then up to pennsylvania, michigan, and wisconsin. here's some examples of what i mean. look at our cbs estimates and some of these states. arizona, dead even. next i'll show you georgia. it's marginally towards trump but that's within the margin of error. pennsylvania which really could be pivotal, also dead even in our estimates. as we get to election night, how should we watch this unfold? we are going to bring up this map and what you'll see is the states lit up and read will probably go republican, the states lit up in blue will probably go democratic and that what remains is the battleground states and what we can do is look at potential paths to victory for each of the candidates. they each would need to get to 270 electoral votes in order to win. what could happen?
quote
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here's one example. suppose donald trump holds north carolina. he did last time. i'm going to lighted up, put it in his column. supposed he can win georgia. he lost it narrowly last time. like that of been red. his electoral vote tally. then let's suppose he stays across the sun belt. we will light up arizona for him in this example and nevada. what happens? he gets close to 270 but he would still need let's say pennsylvania. i will put that in his column. trump goes over to 270. that's one example. for harris, let's suppose she could hold states that joe biden won last time. i'm going to light up michigan in blue and then i'm going to light up wisconsin also in blue, if she holds that one. and then maybe sensing a theme here, let's suppose pennsylvania becomes pivotal. all else equal, if i like that out, she gets to 270.
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those are just some examples for what it does is it underlines just how tight this race is when you look at it state-by-state. cecilia. >> cecilia: thank you so much. >> john: now from anthony's theoretical different lanes i want to go to major garrett who has the reality of where the candidates have been spending their time. major, tell us what that map is about and let me add one thing that both men on the stage come from the midwest. it has that mattered? >> the most finite component for any campaign is time. you cannot get more time. eventually it runs out. so where you spend your time tells you a great deal about the emphasis of a campaign. anthony loves numbers and state boundaries. for my purposes right now i love blobs. let me work you through the legend of the blobs. blue blob is democratic. red is republican. gray is both. you can see small dot is one
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visit, slightly larger dot is five visits. the largest dot is ten or more. anthony give us a path to victory. let's look at the map. where do you see the most blobs? the great commonwealth of pennsylvania. 19 electoral votes. gray, blue, red. north carolina, 16 electoral votes. gray, red, little bit of blue. georgia also 16 electoral votes. some in the south, a lot of travel in and around the atlanta area because it's a tremendous concentration of voters. michigan paired almost covered, red, blue, gray. neighboring wisconsin, all over the state map. nevada, six electoral votes. why the blob in the southern part? clark county paired most of the votes and nevada can be found there. arizona. 11 electoral votes. most -- in the center of the state,
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maricopa county. where they belong, where they need to find the votes, where they need to find the path to victory. >> john: we are going to zoom in and into pennsylvania. it's 19 electoral votes. central to the candidates paths to victory. politics editor john delano has been covering western pennsylvania politics for 30 years for cbs news pittsburgh. john, tell us about the race in this state that's getting so much tension. >> reporter: thank you, john. good to be with you and that terrific elections team you h have. anthony salvanto gave us two scenarios, both of which pennsylvania made the winter. clearly at the pivotal state. you look at the blobs. major garrett said most of the blobs, where are they? pennsylvania. it's a very big state and in this state, every poll including the cbs poll says it's up for grabs so this is really jump
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ball state. no idea how pennsylvania is going to vote on election day but boy, are the candidates, both of them, trying to get our vote. >> john: john, one of the candidates got your attention because you interviewed vice president harris. what did she say about the debate tonight? >> reporter: i had a chance to talk to kamala harris a couple hours ago and she was quite clear when i asked, what does tim walz, governor walz have to do in the debate and basically said she really -- he has to be every man's person, somebody everyone can relate to. if he's just himself, he's going to win this debate, that's what she said. she believes people relate to him and he will talk about the needs of average folks, like those of pennsylvanians. john. >> john: what do western pennsylvania is think about these two vice presidential candidates? or do they frankly not think about them at all because they are thinking about the top of
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the ticket? >> reporter: well, of course they are thinking a little bit about vice presidential candidates. you often say doesn't really matter but it does matter when races are neck and neck like this one. pennsylvania is a big state and many people think pennsylvania is really just philadelphia. this part of the state thinks of themselves as these coasters. my part of the world, the the western part of the state, we are over the line from ohio. we are midwesterners. the two candidates for vice president are both midwesterners. that holds some appeal. which one holds greater appeal, we'll find out. they are spending a lot of time from fayette county to erie county which was the county that determined the winner in the last two presidential elections. western pennsylvania is just as important as the eastern part of the state but you really need a different kind of campaign in pennsylvania depending on where
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you are geographically. cecilia? >> cecilia: thank you so much. i want to bring bob back in because i know you benda pennsylvania. you've been all over the campaign trail. i want you to help us understand the messaging coming out of the trump team. former president seems to have gotten a lot darker and his messaging in recent days. we often try to dissect this and ask whether it's strategy or instinct of on the part of donald trump. which of those is it? is it helping or hurting at this point? >> i have spoken with former president donald trump in recent weeks and this is someone who's always had his complaints about the political establishment, had his grievances. it's nothing new. this is donald trump who has been on the political stage since 2015. nearly a decade since he came down that escalator in new york in the summer of 2015. his campaign and he believed that his grievances, is lashing out about border security, about economic pain people are feeling
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with inflation, it's going to work in places like western pennsylvania. still a little hot with john delano. i was with him in pittsburgh and we were speaking to high school students and i was getting heat because i like wah wah as a convenience store. john is right, no surprise vice president harris is speaking with him. not only is john the best in pennsylvania but the harris campaign needs to do well in pennsylvania. think about inside democratic party circles. you have a lot of people wondering, can tim walz come through an appeal to working voters, men and women in western pennsylvania in those steel towns and mill towns or will there be some regret if walz has a weeknight tonight, her not going with josh shapiro. many democrats were hoping that josh shapiro got on the ticket. walz got on it. based on like conversation with top democrats, they need him to
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come through and his appeal to western p.a. >> cecilia: you were talking to the walz-harris campaign, who do they feel like they need to win over? >> major was talking about blogs. you're going to see more blobs over the next month in michigan and wisconsin because walz is a midwesterner and he's been in michigan for the last several days doing debate prep there. that's no accident. we have been seeing him at football games. he was at the minnesota-michigan game. seeing him at farms and fall fests. i saw him buying a pumpkin the other day. he's out there in his plaid and his flannel making the case "i'm one of you" because those are pivotal states. as john delano was pointing out, half of pennsylvania kind of falls into that midwestern bucket. that's who they are hoping he appeals to tonght. we were talking about some of the darkness. what walz has brought to the
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ticket, democrats argue, is this notion of joy. he talked about republicans being weird. remember that. he talked about joy and how, harris brings joy to the ticket. a lot of people don't feel that joyful when they think about politics right now. will that sell tonight if he brings that kind of energy to the debate? we'll see. >> cecilia: we had to michigan to find out what's on voters' minds. you're watching "cbs news" coverage of the vice presidential debate. u realy philosophize about it, there's one thing you don't have enough of, and that's time. time is a truly scarce commodity. when you come to that realization, i think it's very important to spend time wisely. and what better way of spending time than traveling, continuing to educate ourselves and broaden our minds. (vo 2) viking. exploring the world in comfort.
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president trump, you have long vowed to repeal and replace the affordable care act. if we come up with something, we're going to do it and we're going to replace it. you still do not have a plan? i have concepts of a plan. there are concepts and options we have to do that. you have no plan. when donald trump was president, he tried to get rid of the affordable care act. and what the affordable care act has done is eliminate the ability of insurance companies to deny people with pre-existing conditions. you remember what that was like? we over the last four years have strengthened the affordable care act. and now we have capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month. we have capped the cost of prescription medication for seniors at two thousand dollars a year. and when i am president, we will do that for all people, understanding that access to health care should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it. i'm kamala harris and i approve this message. (♪♪)
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♪ ♪ >> john: welcome back to the "cbs news" coverage of the vice presidential debate. michigan and its 15 electoral votes are part of the blue wall, staves that democrats like to think are firmly in their camp. but in 2016, they thought that too and donald trump became the first republican to win there in nearly 30 years. jericka duncan is in grand rapids, michigan, speaking to volker voters. good evening. >> reporter: kent county is where we are at. it's a very important county we look at the numbers and by that i mean this county has picked the winner of the presidential
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election three times out of the four last presidential elections. joining me is this lovely group. they say they've watched cbs. we love that. show of hands briefly how many of you guys are leaning or planning to vote for harris and walz? two. how many are planning to vote for trump and j.d. vance? and then, there is to left that are undecided. cbs news poll shows us that people are watching this debate because they want to hear more about these candidates. what specifically are you looking for, bill? i'm going to start with you because you voted for trump in 2016. you didn't vote in 2020. here you are today trying to figure out who exactly you're going to vote for. what are you looking for? >> i'm looking for a good economy. >> reporter: a good economy. >> yeah. safety. >> reporter: safety. eric, what about you? >> the economy is extremely important, safety as well.
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i have two daughters. i'm a business owner. both of those things are very important to me. >> reporter: holly. >> i would say the economy is the main priority for me. >> reporter: i see that you have your notepad. you are prepared. >> i agree, the economy. what was the other thing we were talking about? the economy. >> safety. >> safety. yeah, crying. >> reporter: you're a voter that was leaning more toward nikki haley at one point. that's correct? >> no. >> reporter: that was holly? >> that was me. >> i'm so sorry. let's go back to you then. when you have to make this decision, you're looking at this debate while some people already know who they're going to vote for. you were looking at nikki haley is someone you were really considering but you are a bit torn. is there something these candidates can say or do they would clarify where they stand on any position or have you feel more confident and we are going to vote for when you leave
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today? >> i think the three most important things to me in this election are definitely inflation, abortion rights, and also gun-control. i have three -- i have two little kids and they are going to school. that's starting to be little scary now. >> reporter: max, your three children. you're planning to vote for trump and vance. talk to us about why and what are you hoping to get out of this debate tonight? >> i'm really interested to see you both vance and walz's viewpoints. my biggest concerns and focus point for this election is the economy, immigration, and a strong foreign policy, trying to shore up some of our involvements overseas and bring it back home and get us squared away here. >> reporter: that's a way of her time and time again, even in our polling. economy, safety, immigration, these are issues a lot of americans care about. our job is to make sure we reveal america to itself so we think you guys for joining us
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tonight to help the people see regardless of how they feel, this is kind of a taste of what voters are thinking and feeling in the state of michigan which we know will be very importat in this election. we will send it back to you guys whom we will check in with you a little bit later. >> cecilia: you are not going anywhere. we will be checking in with you. ed gordon you've got an important perspective in this because you live outside detroit and we know the suburbs of detroit, this election in particular are expected to play a very important role. given the breaking news we are watching unfold in the middle east right now. vice president kamala harris facing significant questions about her policy in israel and how and whether she will differ very much from president biden. what are you hearing when you were talking to your neighbors on voters in this area? >> it's interesting. i'm a midwesterner born and raised in detroit. today's escalation in the middle east can prove crucial to this state. there is a large arab population outside detroit in dearborn.
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they have not been happy with many administrations, not just the biden administration. administrations previous. they don't see a balanced view from the white house as relates to israel and their positions. so what we are seeing today is going to be unique in terms of whether or not this group can in fact be energized, whether they will in fact throw their weight behind kamala harris. that was the thought early on. but there has not been a clear path to her because of that. >> cecilia: night think the question is whether they show up on election day. >> i was recently in dearborn and talked to several voters on this question. this was before or the administration would argue was a clarified moment. iran attacking israel for that takes away some of the obscurity, is it a militia or what is happening? it's now iran and israel. here is hope that clarifies
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things that israel must defend itself and must be supported. there will be a competition on the debate stage tonight about unequivocal support and the strength of that message delivered by both walz and vance. they will be testing each other on that. >> if you remember in the primaries, that group decided to withhold their votes. they wanted to send a message. we'll see if that was heard. >> john: and have the circumstances changed? thank you. child care is expensive. housing is expensive. those are two areas we will look at as we examine where the candidates stand on everyday costs.
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♪ ♪ >> cecilia: the economy has been and continues to be the number one issue for voters heading into the election. recent cbs news poll shows voters are feeling better about the economic climate as gas prices and interest rates have dropped. but 59% say the economy is still in bad shape. senior business and technology correspondent jo ling kent has been digging into both campaigns 'has plans to tackle housing, child care, basic costs. good evening. why do you expect to hear
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tonight on the plans to tackle high prices? >> reporter: great to see you. get ready to hear about the economy and the cost of living. you can expect senator vance to hammer harris and walz on inflation. our math shows grocery prices are up 21% since biden and harris took office. even though they've leveled out lately on wage growth has been keeping pace with inflation. you can expect vance to hit on trump's proposed 20% tariff on imported goods even though economists estimate the trump terror proposals would cost a typical middle income household at least $1700 more a year. walz will likely play of harris' federal ban on price gouging. neither campaign has offered much specifics on how they're going to implement and carry out these policies. >> cecilia: still waiting for details. as we are talking about, shipping has been brought to a halt along so much of the east coast and in the gulf of mexico as a result
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of course of the sport strike we've been following. how much do you expect back to impact prices in the coming weeks and days? >> reporter: it's at least 25,000 union dockworkers in 14 ports from houston to boston. they walked off the job last night at midnight, right? according to jpmorgan chase destroyed could cost the economy up to $5 billion a day. economists worry that a longer strike would disrupt the supply chain on everything from your perishable foods to cars and construction materials. we also know that things like fuel for home heating oil for example, diesel gas, those are actually transported in ways that are not expected to be impacted by the strike. according to the new york governor kathy hochul, there is no need to be running on panicking and going to the grocery store and stockpiling goods, as you might have done during the pandemic. >> cecilia: these concerns coming five weeks out from the election. the other top issue on the
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campaign trail, how much families are struggling to cover the cost of child care. this has been a big one in terms of talking points. senator vance made some headlines recently over his suggestion that grandparents should be more involved. >> reporter: cecilia, this copy attention of a lot of parents of young kids. this is the care economy, right? it's been a central talking point for vance and walz. the cost of child care is rising faster than inflation, almost double the rate of inflation. both candidates have said they support permanently expanding the child tax credit. harrison walz have said federal paid family leave would be an important priority if they win. but few specifics on how long it should be and we know that vance told our colleague margaret brennan in august thatt he supports an expanded child tax credit, expanded child care options for families beyond preschool and day care but the grandparents, certainly striking a chord, sing on scent uncles should be helping out more too.
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>> cecilia: i was saying, cbs news poll saying half of americans aged 34 to 64 not confident that they will be able to own a home. what are the campaigns promising to change that? >> reporter: the fed cut interest rates any of americans who want to get into the housing market so it's kind of encouraging to see. vice president harris has proposed a $25,000 down payment assistance program for certain first-time home buyers. she is proposing a tax incentive for builders of starter homes which are in short supply to help tackle the supply problem which is basically plagued our country for more than a decade and a half now. this depends on congressional approval. depends on the type of implementation. former president trump has proposed changing regulations, making federal land available for housing but hasn't offered many details on that front and he has said he wants to deport
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15 million to 20 million undocumented workers who he is blaming for increasing housing demand, something senator vance says he supports but mass deportation could also impact the workforce needed to build homes here as well. cecilia. >> cecilia: so many questions on how they and if they will be able to pull off that plan. thank you so much. >> john: i want to ask a question about this. the economy compared to where the country was during the pandemic and compared to how it wrecked economies all over the world, the u.s. economy has bounced back. inflation is coming down. jobs numbers are good. can the harris campaign say any of that without looking out of touch? are they in the same bind joe biden was in when he was running? >> reporter: harris approach is it a little differently than biden did. biden tried to thread the needle between "look how much i did to bring the economy back from the breach." look at all the jobs were created. look at how prices are inflation at least has come down. look at this legislation i
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passed. yes, we need to do more but i'm working on it. and i've got a record. harris has really leaned into the notion that more needs to be done to help american families. she talks a lot about that. you heard jo ling kent talk about describing the assistance she wants to provide to first-time home buyers, lots of different tax credits. there is some indication that that approach along with interest rates coming down, along with gas prices coming down, starting to move the needle a little bit. our polling shows that while trump does still have an advantage on the big issue of the economy that she is charming to inch closer and closer. >> cecilia: thank you. we are minutes away from the vice presidential debate. you're watching "cbs news." stay with us. pain hits fast. so get relief fast. only tylenol rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast for fast pain relief.
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precisely where you need it. ♪ ♪ home. >> john: welcome back to the vice presidential debate coverage. ed o'keefe is ensconced with our colleagues in the press corps in the room down the aisle from the actual debate location. ed, we have seen major news today of the debate before and we are sure getting it today.
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>> ed: in 2016 when you hosted the presidential primary debate and that morning antonin scalia died and suddenly you had to rip up the questions and focus on the future of the supreme court which probably hadn't been a top of mine concerned. look at what's happened in the last couple days. in essence we've had some surprises. intensification of the situation in the middle east, major storms ravaging the southeast that are going to cause debate over spending and climate change, a reminder that as president, whoever is president faces all sorts of unexpected challenges that suddenly can crop up. it'll be interesting to see tonight exactly how that factors into the debates. cecilia. >> cecilia: ed, you don't get to go anywhere. we will be checking back in with you when it's over and we are officially minutes away from the start of this debate. i want to get your final thoughts. major, i want to start with you. we've been saying that so much is on the line tonight. how much of tonight is about the audience of one for j.d. vance? subpoena and a considerable
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amount. president trump has expectations for j.d. vance. j.d. vance knows as robert costa's early laid out, at age 40 his entire political career is ahead of him. if this ticket does not prevail the republican party will find itself in an uncomfortable and unwelcome and unwanted post from therapy what role does j.d. vance play in that? a considerable amount of that decision will be drawing from what he does tonight. he knows that. in contrast, governor walz is 60. one year older than, . -- then kamala harris. he is there to enhance the ticket as it exists in every five things on the positive side where and when he can. very different calculations, different risk factors. >> john: even if you are bob dole who had a bad night in 1976, he was nominated 20 years later for the republican party's you can rescue yourself from a bad night. what are your final thoughts? >> everybody in the press gallery on the campaign plans,
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they talk about vice presidential debates as low impact but they really are high-stakes. everybody watching knows one of these two men could become president of the united states. the country is going to take a temperature on character, policy. who are these people who might lead the country? one of them might be leading the country should a crisis happen, a heartbeat away from presidency. we live in a time of assassination attempts on the republican nominee, of political violence, and of aging politicians. it's no question that one day one of these people could be president. we hope all people live healthy lives and serve full terms but you never know in american history. that's what history tells us. >> john: the other big event, these incredible floods in north carolina. >> nancy: handling of natural disasters is often a proxy for voters of confidence. they look at how you handle something like that and say this person is capable of handling big important things.
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that's why president biden tomorrow is heading to north carolina and south carolina and florida and georgia the next day. >> john: we see the vice presidential candidates. tim walz standing, a lone man behind his lectern. give us your thoughts as we watch as j.d. vance is in the wings for the moment. there he is. >> performance, performance, performance. that seems obvious. no full pause. they are looking for a viral moment. that's what they are looking for tonight. >> cecilia: no handshake. governor walz appears to be taking some notes. j.d. vance doing the same as our colleagues. >> maybe they will shake hands before -- >> john: the vice presidential debate moderated by norah o'donnell and margaret brennan. j.d. vance and tim walz taken the stage. stick with us here and join us on our streaming channel.
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for exclusive content you won't see anywhere else. thank you for joining us. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> norah: tonight, with just over a month ago until election day, the first and only meeting between the two men who hope to become vice president of the united states. democratic governor tim walz of minnesota and republican senator j.d. vance of ohio. >> margaret: this is likely the final debate of this election cycle and voting is already underway in 20 states. cbs news polling shows this remains
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